IHOP — Restaurant in Alexandria

This is going to be a weird review but so be it. This year I was hired at THIS IHOP and quit within two weeks for many reasons. But I will focus on what people who want to eat here should know. For example I will not get into the details of how badly they train newcomers or health coverage. While working here I learned the ins and outs of the restaurant business. One of them was just how much the waiting staff manhandle the food before they deliver it to make it look appetizing. Now, I would not have a problem with that but for the fact I seemed to wash my hands more than the rest of the staff combined. The staff treated certain groups with disrespect. One waiter complained that the Hispanics were always using up more cream in their coffee than others and were bad tippers. Also my manager took over a table from me because they were "Gypsies" and she didn't trust them. She also complained about how much of a mess they had made. In their defenses they had children and children always make messes. And they seemed to really dislike tour groups who stayed at the hotel because they all had those breakfast coupons. Which you would think would make serving them EASIER? There were only so many choices on the coupons. I will never be eating at a IHOP again. Not after seeing the behind the scenes. I could go on and on but I'll cut it off here. I am sure not ALL IHOPs or restaurants are like this but while working there I refused to drink anything but water and I lost weight because I didn't eat any of their food even with a employee discount! Tip - if you still plan to go there to eat don't go during changes in the shifts. Outgoing shifts don't want to wait on their tables because they want to leave and incoming shifts are always late as far...

Let me start off with food was good, the place is clean and they are following the rules for COVID-19 restaurant standard. The food alone and cleanliness is worth 5 stars however the service is lacking and the AC is not working (at the time of this meal). I joined my group (2 adults and one child) at the table in mid meal with my order placed prior to my arrival. Once she recognized I was there I was greeted with coffee and no utensils to stir the coffee. I had to grab her attention and remind her I needed utensils.

During the my meal and near the end of my groups' meal who I was with, waitress never came back to check on us. I got her attention again for more coffee and request check. I received the coffee and waited for my check, which at this time 30 mins had elasped and counting. By this time a table that was seated (2 adults and one child) after my arrival, ate, received check and was on their way out before my group and I. Finally 40 mins later in total we received the check, but not in the standard fashion.

Without a word our waitress threw the checks down on the table, turned around and left. We approached the manager and stated all what took place, he took care of our checks by giving us a discount and apologized for the service. I understand people have bad days and some business may not have a full working staff, however there was many chances for the waitress to redeem herself. This was my first and last time using this restaurant and the group I was with, was their third and last time using this restaurant (the group I was with has had issues with this resteraunt prior, but today...

Got delivery from here. My mom got theTres Leches pancakes, and they were just so sweet and good! I got the new lemon Oreo pancakes, and let me tell you BEST PANCAKES EVER! Lemon Oreos broken up perfectly- they're on the inside and we got plenty of extra for the topping; the cream cheese topping was excellent, and the pancakes were just so light, fluffy and huge! The only thing they forgot was the whipped topping, but the quality of everything was just so good that it didn't really matter. The hash browns were also good. Overall it was a wonderful experimental idea, and everything was just executed perfectly - I feel like I was transported to heaven and couldn't help but eat the leftovers :-). Really I think this is the best that I've gotten from this IHOP too so they deserve the credit. Thanks again.

Have to edit this review a little bit. One problem when I got my cinn-a-stack pancakes this last time was that the cinnamon goop that's supposed to be in between the pancakes wasn't there. And they did give me a couple extra sauces that were sweet with an intriguing flavor, and all liquidy- I don't know what they were but they were okay. But the major problem was that they forgot our hash browns. My mom went to the trouble of trying to make our own hash browns, and when we called in the morning and said we would just like our money back, the manager said that would take too long/ be too much trouble and that our only option would be for us to pick up our hash browns when next we came. This should not...